---
title: "Working with the Pixeltable CLI"
description: "You defined a multimodal pipeline in Python and now need to inspect tables, debug computed columns, roll back changes, and expose HTTP endpoints without writing more application code."
url: "https://www.pixeltable.com/notebooks/working-with-cli"
updated: "2026-09-03"
---

# Working with the Pixeltable CLI

You defined a multimodal pipeline in Python and now need to inspect tables, debug computed columns, roll back changes, and expose HTTP endpoints without writing more application code.

- **Type:** Notebook
- **Group:** Core Operations

## How it works

The pxt CLI ships with Pixeltable (v0.7.4+). Catalog commands talk to a local daemon (~40 ms per call after the first invocation). Write tables in Python, then inspect and serve them from the terminal.

See the CLI reference for every flag.

## What it covers

- Inspect catalogs with pxt ls, describe, columns, and idxs
- Query and debug rows with pxt rows, count, get, and errors
- Manage versions with pxt history and pxt revert
- Script and automate with --json, -f, and pxt shell
- Write tables and routes in app.py. pxt schema update creates the tables; pxt service diff / update starts HTTP

## What it uses

- **Install:** `pip install 'pixeltable[serve]'`
- **Pixeltable calls:** `video.frame_iterator()`, `pxt.create_table()`, `pxt.create_view()`, `@pxt.udf`, `add_computed_column()`, `insert()`

## Open it

- **Open in Colab:** https://colab.research.google.com/github/pixeltable/pixeltable/blob/release/docs/release/howto/cookbooks/core/working-with-cli.ipynb
- **Docs page:** https://docs.pixeltable.com/howto/cookbooks/core/working-with-cli
- **Source on GitHub:** https://github.com/pixeltable/pixeltable/blob/release/docs/release/howto/cookbooks/core/working-with-cli.ipynb